Gerard H. Gifford Sells 8,222 Shares of Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) Stock

Key Points

• Crown Holdings, Inc. CAO Gerard H. Gifford sold 8,222 shares of the company's stock for approximately $846,290, representing a 6.29% decrease in his ownership.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, to be paid on August 21st, with an annualized yield of 1.02%.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Crown Holdings, with JPMorgan increasing it from $108 to $112, reflecting a generally positive outlook on the stock.

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK - Get Free Report) CAO Gerard H. Gifford sold 8,222 shares of Crown stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.93, for a total value of $846,290.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 122,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,617,674.05. This trade represents a 6.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Crown Stock Performance

CCK traded down $0.16 on Thursday, hitting $99.19. 627,507 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,295,501. The firm has a market cap of $11.54 billion, a PE ratio of 20.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.76. Crown Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.98 and a twelve month high of $109.48. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $102.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $93.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Crown (NYSE:CCK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The industrial products company reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. Crown had a net margin of 4.64% and a return on equity of 27.15%. Crown's quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.81 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Crown Holdings, Inc. will post 6.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 7th. Crown's payout ratio is presently 21.85%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CCK. Korea Investment CORP boosted its position in shares of Crown by 99.1% during the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 143,252 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $11,846,000 after buying an additional 71,300 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Crown by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 90,245 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $7,268,000 after buying an additional 13,644 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Crown during the fourth quarter worth approximately $517,000. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its position in shares of Crown by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 12,686 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,049,000 after buying an additional 2,039 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Crown during the 4th quarter valued at about $113,568,000. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on CCK. Baird R W downgraded Crown from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Bank of America upped their target price on Crown from $110.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Crown from $110.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Crown from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Crown from $114.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $120.67.

About Crown

Crown Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the packaging business in the United States and internationally. It operates through Americas Beverage, European Beverage, Asia Pacific, and Transit Packaging segments. The company manufactures and sells recyclable aluminum beverage cans and ends, glass bottles, steel crowns, aluminum caps, non-beverage cans, and aerosol cans and closures.